Page 17

BELL

I have to be careful with Arkana. She is far more clever than I first suspected. If she or anyone were to find out that I am not a nobleman, that I’m just a lowly orphan from the poison fields of Hemlock Valley, all of this will come to an abrupt end. No riches, no power, and no Arkana.

Hell, if Atreus Graves is as calculating as he seems, he may try to end my life as well. Nocturnus controls Raven’s Gate, quite possibly the whole of Melancholia, and I’m starting to suspect they may control the ravens as well. Their behavior is quite peculiar and very unbirdlike.

But I have never met a man I couldn’t beat or kill. The blood running through my veins is unnatural. It thrums with power from a darker source than anyone in their little cult has ever seen. It is a power that I still do not understand myself. It’s just always been with me since I was a child. Like a shadow or a dark cloud that follows me.

The nuns whispered, el diablo, behind my back. The devil. But it was always loud enough for me to hear. The other boys in the orphanage kept away, averting their eyes as if my gaze would turn them to stone. I guess no one wanted to play with the boy who pulled wings off flies.

But if none of that could convince me that there was something darkly wrong with me, then all I had to do was stick out my own tongue. In all my life I have never seen another’s fork in two the way mine does. I’ve learned to keep it pressed together when speaking. No one has caught on to it yet. But I suspect hiding it from my new wife is going to be the greatest challenge of my life.

She’s giving me the silent treatment now after my outburst back at Graves Estate. She sits opposite me in the carriage, glaring out the side window.

“You still haven’t answered my question, Arkana.” I enjoy how my words send a hint of blush to her cheeks.

“That’s because it lacks merit and intelligence,” she huffs out.

I knead my fingers into the leather seat, tempted to rip the fabric apart. I’m aching to destroy something. “Don’t provoke me. Unless you have a craving for darkness. Is that it, Arkana? Are you a glutton for my wrath?”

Her lip quivers as she finally turns to look at me. “I want nothing to do with you, actually.”

“Oh? Is that why you can’t catch your breath?” I reach out and snatch her wrists without warning. Before she can strike me, I yank her to my side of the carriage and pin her on her back in the seat beside me.

“You are out of order!” She shoves at my immovable frame.

Leaning over her, I chuckle as I wipe the sweat from my brow. “Yes. I am nothing but pure chaos. And you love it.”

Her chest heaves, the blush from her cheeks extending to it. “I could not enjoy the way Aquarius Thorn salivated over me because I was too distracted by your pathetic jealousy. But perhaps next time, I can bask in his attention a little more.”

This woman is going to be the absolute fucking end of me. I lie across her and whisper, “Then I will cut out his eyes.”

“You are unhinged,” she rasps. And yet her words contradict the way her throat flutters.

“Yes. I am completely unhinged.” I take her earlobe between my teeth and bite down until I taste blood.

She lets out a gurgled cry. She tries to pull away, but I hold her in place. I don’t bother to stifle a soft moan as I suck on the wound, lapping at the tiny droplets of her blood with delicate precision.

“You bastard,” she says on a breath. “You’re going to pay for that.”

My belly warms. The tingling sensation trickles down my shaft and underneath to my tender balls. “I welcome all of your violence, beloved. Do your fucking worst.” She whimpers as I scrape my teeth across her jaw and then down her throat.

I feel her entire body heat underneath me. Her breasts swell in the ridiculous corset she wears, the laces pulled so tight she can barely breathe. But it’s the weight of my body that awakens her frenzy.

“Be careful what you wish for, Bell. It brings me far too much joy to watch you bleed.” Arkana rears up without warning and manages to slash my left cheek with her knife before I wrangle it away from her.

I growl and rub my face against hers, making sure to soil her as much as possible with the blood she spills. “You can do better than that, beautiful.”

“Ugh, get off me, Bell. I have had enough of your antics today.” She claws at my hand in an attempt to win the knife back.

I am so fired up I’m tempted to take her right now. With her feisty, insufferable mouth agape as I give her an orgasm so mind-blowing, it will rearrange the cells in her body. “Yeah, that’s it. Fucking fight me. Hurt me.”

She gives up on the knife and slaps me instead, right across the cheek she sliced. “I am going to murder you, Bellamy Erebus, if you don’t get off me this instant.”

I fling the knife away, then grab both of her wrists and pin them above her head. Her lips are so fucking soft and pillowy… As I lean in, the ache to kiss her festers. I release a soft breath on her mouth instead. “Is that what you really want?”

She lets out another whimper as her breath hitches.

I slide my hands down her arms and, to my delight, she holds still. I caress the base of her throat before I wrap a hand around it. “Shall I stop touching you like this, Arkana?”